I'm taking the plunge...

I wrote this a week ago but am just now posting it, so it is from a week ago's perspective. This is freeing me up to post more often, since I'm finally getting past tour. (Just blog-wise, I'm still having a really hard time letting it go...) October 4th, 2009 Well, I guess it’s about time to actually write this down: The Lion Tour 2009 is Officially Over. Of course, it was over on August 30, but I’m just now getting up the guts to say so. We dove right into school and I’m working on my third production since then (I’ll tell about that later on), and I really have not had any time to write this. But I’ve thought about it for so many days, and it won’t get easier, so I’m going ahead and just doing it. It was incredible. The chance of a lifetime (for me, at least). A huge answer to prayers and years of wishing and wanting so badly. To finally really be Susan, who I’ve been as long as I can remember, on stage, playing my dream role, was more that I ever expected. And more, to travel all over the country, to see so many places I’d only heard about, to really be there and experience travel and life on the road, was more than I ever hoped for. To get to be in a touring stage play, another dream in and of itself, to know what it is like to go and do the same show nearly every day for a whole summer, was something so far off that I hardly dared to wish for it. To get to do all these things together, to play my dream role all over the country, and to have most of my family with me, seeing what I saw and feeling what I felt, was more than I ever imagined I could have. God has given me above and beyond my greatest dreams, and I can never express what it means to me. I made new friends, new pieces in the puzzle of my life, people that I truly treasure and am so blessed to know. I really love everyone of them, and count them as my family now. There’s a song that usually makes me cry when I hear it, but it just says everything I feel toward my tour family. It’s “For Good”, from Wicked, which I have not seen, but I heard this song and loved it. (So, I thought I had a recording of it, but it's not working, and I'll get it on here when I can. Or you can look it up... (: ) Faith, Thad, KP, Aaron, Katie, Krystin, Gee, Raya, and Mr. Payne, I have been changed for the better, because I knew you. Though we may never meet again in this lifetime, you’ll be with me like a handprint on my heart. I’m who I am today because I knew you. I love you all. You are all very dear to me, and I miss you every day. I wish you all the very best in everything you do. What else can I say? I could write more than anyone wants to read about how wonderful this tour was, what it meant to me, and how it has changed me, but I don’t want to write too much. I’ll go back and fill in all those days when I didn’t write anything. I really need to close that big gap between August 6th and 30th. A lot happened, and I do want to tell you, so I’ll try to write that out when I get a minute (or, a lot of minutes!!). Since August 30, we started school at the Teen Learning Center tutorial, which meets on Mondays. (Actually, it started on August 17, when we still had 2 more weekends of Lion shows.) We’re taking some classes there, as well as a few things just at home (we’re homeschooled, by the way, and always have been). It is going well. It’s been interesting to actually have homework!! :) Jonathan and I auditioned for, and made it into, And Then There Were None, the school play this fall. It’s an Agatha Christie murder mystery (long way from LWW!!) He is Rogers and I am Dr. Armstrong. Yes, I’m playing a boy role, but we changed it so I’m not acting like a boy. It is going to be really great. It’s Nov. 5, 6, & 7, and my 18th birthday is the 8th, so It’ll be fun. I also played flute for You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown last weekend (Sept. 24-26). The director is also directing the school play, so that was fun. It was new for me (and very interesting) to be in the pit rather that on stage. It was a good show. This week, I am working with the Nashville Opera in Tosca. My mom and little brother (William) are in it. The lady in charge of wigs/makeup is letting me intern, and I get to do wigs for the chorus. It is going to be so cool!!!! It’s at TPAC, which I love. I’ve been around there backstage a few times, with siblings in operas and I sang there once in a choir for the Nashville Ballet. I think that place is so cool, and I love just being there. PLUS, this time I get to actually work there. I’m a little nervous about having to make sure all the adults look just right, when they’re doing their own makeup and putting their hair up for the wigs. Our job is to make sure they all do it right (it’s really specific) and they are NOT allowed to touch the wigs (but I am, though the first time I got within 10 feet of one was today…hmm). So, I kind of have to tell the adults what to do, which is always hard for me, since they are the adults, and I’m still a kid. Anyhow, I think that’s about it. Allison “Susan”

August 6th

August 6th This was the *craziest* day we’ve had in a LONG time. We were supposed to be at the college (where we meet every time before leaving from there) at 8:45 to leave at 9. When we got there Mr. Payne told us not to load anything in yet because there was a problem with the trailer. It was something about the bearing in a wheel -- I am totally car problem inept, so I don’t know exactly -- but there was black greasy stuff all on the outside of the hub cap. Mr. Payne said we couldn’t drive with it that way or it might fall of and there was no way to get it fixed on the road. (we passed by a trailer almost just like ours on the way and it had a wheel off. Mr. P said that could have been us!!) My dad was there (who is awesome at fixing cars!!) and a couple of other guys who were trying to fix it. There was talk about us just heading on to Conway (where the show was) all in the silver van with our costumes, which would have been extremely tight and crazy, and Mr. Payne would bring the trailer, when it got fixed, with the blue van. Then we realized that we couldn’t go without Mr. Payne because he is Aslan. Anyhow, it was a big deal and all crazy, but dad took whatever part it was and he and Mr. Payne went somewhere and another guy came and it all got fixed. Sorry for being kind of vague about all those details, but we didn’t know them. We just had to hang out for an hour. Jesse (Faith’s boyfriend) took Faith and me to bagel/coffee place and they got some bagels. I didn’t get anything because I had had my braces tightened the day before and my teeth were hurting like crazy. I was really hungry, but I couldn’t chew anything!! When we came back Aaron and Jonathan were playing Frisbee and Jesse joined in. This little cat showed up and played around until we left. It was crazy and ran after the Frisbee and sticks and anything you threw past him. It was pretty funny. So, we headed out at 10:00. About 10 minutes later we hit almost not moving traffic for about 10-15 minutes or so. We ran into traffic a couple of times. 2 short stops and 6 hours later, we pulled into the church. It was 4:00, the latest we’ve ever gotten to a place the day of a show. We ran in and had lunch really fast because it was so late (and we were all REALLY hungry) and they had it ready for us. It was really good sandwiches and wraps and salad with chips and salsa on the tables. I got a wrap so I wouldn’t have to bite it with my front teeth (which hurt the most), and I ended up picking it to pieces with a fork and eating it that way. It had grilled chicken pieces and lots of lettuce and a few little tomato cubes. It would have been really good if I could have eaten it the right way. After lunch we…you guessed it…unloaded the trailer. The blue van still hadn’t gotten there yet, but they did get there while we were unloading and they went to lunch. It was a great stage. It was an all wood floor and it was a good size. It was a little slippery, but not bad. We used everything except the beaver dam. We got everything together and set up…and it was 5:40. It was a 7:00 show. We had to rework tech because Katie D (Mrs. Beaver) has to work this week and couldn’t come. Dr. Harris, AnnaGee’s mom, is playing Mrs. Beaver for these 5 shows. Katie does a lot of tech, so we had to move things around to make sure it all got done. So, it was pretty much crazy. We had to run a careful tech, which was a little insane, but got done eventually. Then it was after 6 and time for mic checks. Several of the mics were having issues, so it was taking a long time. It was positively insane. We were on stage trying to do mic checks and looking at our watches creep along. It was about 6:20 when they let us go and Aaron stayed to work with the mics. I don’t know what the problem was, but they called us back in about 10 minutes and said it was fixed. So we all checked them again. They were working, but we had mic issues all through the show, so I have no idea what was going on. We were not going to make it at 7:00, so they said they could push back the starting time until 7:15. I don’t know what time we started, but it was close to that. It was a good show, with a pretty good audience. Dr. Harris did wonderfully, even though she had never actually run the show with us. I think her makeup looked amazing and really animal like. I’d get a picture on here, but for some reason I still can’t get pictures to look like pictures instead of a big jumble of letters. After the show and load out we took the Subway they had gotten us and headed to the hotel. They had given us menus for Quizno’s earlier, and we chose what we wanted. Apparently they got to Quizno’s about 10 minutes before closing and couldn’t get them to give them any food. So, they tried to match our orders at Subway. I had to pick mine all apart to be able to eat it again. Blech. So, it was pretty much a crazy, insane, long day, but I fun one. We are in the van as I am writing this (I write these in the van on the way to the next place…that’s why I do yesterday), and we are almost there. So, I guess that’s all for yesterday!!

Quick note:

Just a quick note to say we are leaving at 9:00 tomorrow morning. We're heading to Conway, AR for a show tomorrow night. After that it's Sringfield & St. Louis, MO, then Earlham, IA. We don't know if we'll drive all the way back on Monday or take it in 2 trips and get back Tuesday. Anyhow, that's it. :)

August 2nd

We left Tallahassee and drove to Brunswick, GA. We got to Brunswick and the GPS lead us into a kind of neighborhood…which was obviously NOT where we were supposed to be. Mr. Payne called the people at the church and we got there alright, but it was kind of funny. We had lunch (sandwiches) and loaded in. Aaron told us about a dream he had had about other people trying to set up our set and doing it all wrong. They were trying to hang the curtains on a pole of lights, and something happened and the whole big row of lights fell. One of the other people’s toe was broken, and Katie D said “a toe is broken!”. Ha ha. Also Katie P (who was, for some reason, already in her unicorn costume) had blood all over her from the lights apparently falling on her. Aaron said he was really mad and woke up fuming…and then realized he was just dreaming. Gee said she couldn’t imagine why he would have a dream like that. Ha ha. So, after getting everything set up and running a crazy long tech, we started mic checks. It was about 4:45 when we started, and the show was at 6, and it is really best for us to have a full hour to get ready. There was some big issue with feedback (probably because of the huge speakers that were right on the stage), and it took a long time. He said he just needed someone to talk for a while so he could fix something, and somehow I ended up being the one. I talked for at least 10 minutes. I was racking my brain to think of things to say. I think I said the abc’s all wrong. First I was pretending I couldn’t remember them so it would take longer to say, and then I got all mixed up and couldn’t remember what I had just said. Everyone was laughing at me, so I think I did say them wrong. After I finished saying them wrong I said them backwards (correctly), so everyone wouldn’t think I was completely stupid. ;) So, it was about 5:15 and they said we could go and we just wouldn’t use mics (other than Gee, who HAS to have one) and they would keep working on it. About 2 minutes later Mr. Payne called us all back again. He said they couldn’t get us loud without getting feedback, so they were going to run the mics really low. Okay, great. We ran back to get ready, and some of us (Faith and me) just barely got ready in time. It was a good show. We signed a ton of autographs after the show. There were 3 little boys (about 8 years old) who went around hugging everyone. It was funny because they kept on coming back. The first time they asked me if they could have a hug. I said sure, and they hugged me and left. A few minutes later they came back and didn’t ask. Then they came back again and were standing about 3 feet away…and one just dived into me, followed by the rest. It was pretty funny. Thad and Katie’s parents came to that show, since they live in Macon, GA, which it relatively close. So, they went back home with their family. Katie P. went to the other van for the trip home, and it was strangely quiet in our van. :( But we pretty much slept all the way home, so it was okay. :) We got to the college yesterday at 4:00, and got home about 4:45. Nothing else eventful to report. We’re just home. Something interesting happened this morning. I was supposed to babysit, but when I got there there was already an Allison there. The lady who called me is out of town, so it was just her husband there, and he said apparently she had booked us both. It was hilarious. None of us had been in that situation before, so we had no idea what to do. The other girl (who goes to our church, so I knew her) had gotten there first, but I was the one he had sent directions the night before. Both of us didn’t really care who stayed and who left, so I just left. It was really weird/embarrassing/funny. I was highly amused. Anyhow, that’s it. :)

August 1st

Alright, sorry for taking so long to tell you about the rest of the trip. On August 1st we were drove from Merritt Island to Tallahassee, and did a show there. We got there about 1:30 and decided to have lunch before unloading the trailer. There were a bunch of guys there to help us unload, and Mr. Payne decided to let them unload the trailer while we were having lunch. That was nice, because we had lunch and then came out and everything was on stage ready to be put together. So, we set up and ran tech. We were doing everything just like the night before, as the stage was almost exactly the same. That was nice. After tech we did mic checks and then had about 2 hours of free time, which was REALLY nice. So then we got ready and did show. It was a good show, and the audience was great (except that they laughed when the wolf is scaring everyone…don’t know why, but all the little kids on the floor in front of the stage were just out right laughing. Weird.). During tech Thad did something really funny. It was the part when the 4 of us kids come out of the wardrobe into Narnia and Thad is hiding behind a tree (he comes out later in the scene). When we opened the doors he was standing in right in front of us wearing those crazy glasses he has that have lenses that look like mirrors. He said “Peta Pevensie, I am from da fyootcha. I am here to protect you!” and picked Jonathan up and carried him off stage. It was HILARIOUS!! Everyone was kind of stressed out and grumpy during that tech (don’t really know why, but it happens sometimes), and it was the perfect comedic relief. After the show and signing we came back through the auditorium to get backstage and EVERYTHING was off the stage. They guys that helped us load in had taken everything down and put it all on the floor. I didn’t mind so much, but Gee and Aaron were really upset about it. Actually, pretty much everyone was, because we were having trouble finding things. Apparently they had asked Gee if they could take everything down, and she had said no, but they did it anyway. Hmm. She said we needed to do it because things get lost/broken when other people do it. But everything worked out, so it is okay. We just had to be extra careful to be sure we had everything. They had gotten us pizza, which we took back to the hotel. It was REALLY REALLY good. They were very nice to us. There was a sign in the room where we had lunch that said (paraphrased) “welcome, cast and crew of the LWW. We are so glad you are here…” and was just great. Nothing much happened at the hotel. Faith, Thad, Elizabeth, Christopher and I were the first ones in the elevator, and when we got off there were some kids in the hallway (mom said it must me some kind of high school camp) and one of them said “well that’s nice!” about Faith’s makeup. She still had all of it on, so she did look kind of crazy. She said she needs a shirt that says “It’s okay, I was in a show”. It is funny to see people’s reactions to her crazy makeup when we aren’t where we did the show. One guy at a hotel said “nice face paint”. Well, that’s all for August 1st.

July 31st

I posted twice today, so don’t miss the July 30 post. It was late when we got in last night and we had sunburn and I was too sleepy to post last night, so there are 2 today. July 31 Ah, yesterday. It was INSANE. We met back at the church and headed to the beach again, this time just for the morning. Raya and Krytsin were with us, and Katie D was heading to the airport to get Gee. Mr. Payne was taking the van to get the brakes fixed, and he came back for us at 1:45. We had 2 umbrellas and 2 boogie boards from our host homes, and mom rented 5 more boogie boards and a bike. It was a fun day on the beach. We did lots of boogie boarding (well, most of us, that is. I can’t stay on one to save my life and mom and the Larsens were not in the water a whole lot.), and just had a fun beach day. I made my mark in the sand -- a horn and bow with arrows and “Queen Susan” written by it. I went back later and wrote “The Gentle” under Susan, and then “wuz hear”. I spelled it all wrong because it was fun to have it so opposite from “Queen Susan the Gentle”. Anyhow, it got destroyed before we left, firstly by a toddler, secondly by a wave. Mm-Hm. So, we pretty much all got sunburned. It made the show kind of crazy because we were trying not to hurt each other by touching it. I don’t know who is the worst, but Thad and I both have it pretty badly. I didn’t think I got much because I didn’t feel burned and when I looked at my back when we were changing I wasn’t red. But when we were getting dressed for the show some of the girls were saying how much it must hurt, and it did, but I didn’t know how red it was!! I’m the girl who can put on sunscreen every hour and still get burned. Grr. It’s okay, we’ll live. It is much better, for me, at least, today. Oh, Mr. Payne told everyone at the end when he does his talk that they could hug us if they wanted. He’s never said that before, and we all looked at each other and grimaced. On the day we all got sunburned, he tells the whole audience we don’t mind hugs. Ha ha, ouch. A lot of people patted me on the shoulder…which is about the worst thing the could have done, but it was okay. Mr. P usually just says they can take photographs and we’ll sign autographs, and we do usually get a few hugs, but we got A LOT last night!! The show was good. We used almost all the set. Nothing really wrong happened. A couple of almost forgotten lines and such, but that happens all the time. It was a surprisingly good show for having spent all morning at the beach. We were worn out at load in and set up, but when showtime came around I think we all felt much better. I did, anyhow…other than the sunburn, that is. :) After the show and signing and tear down and load out we headed back to our host home for the night. So, big long crazy day.

July 30th

We left the hotel in Lake City at 10:00 and got to the church in Merritt Island at about 1:30-2:00. We dropped the trailer and changed into our swim suits and headed to the beach. It was a great day. First we had lunch -- Elizabeth, Aaron and I went to Subway and everyone else went to McDonald’s. On the way back to the beach (which was just a couple of blocks), us Subway people went to Ron Jon’s surf shop (that was amazing!!) on the pretense of getting towels and I came out with a necklace, 3 pencils, and shirt and the towel. Aaron got a necklace and towel too and a Frisbee. (Katie P wanted us all to get shark tooth bracelets in honor of the upcoming shark week on the Discovery channel. I got a shark tooth necklace, but it was just because I kind of always have wanted one and in honor of coming to FL) Elizabeth didn’t get anything, but she pitched in to get the $10 towel that all 5 of us were going to share. THEN we headed back to the beach. It was kind of cloudy for most of the day…which was good, because it wasn’t cold, just cloudy, so we didn’t really get sunburned. We didn’t have any beach stuff, so we just played in the water and Faith and I buried each other in the sand. We all played Frisbee in the ocean…right on the shore where it was ankle to just above knee deep. That was fun, and I managed to actually catch the Frisbee 5 times!! Maybe I’m not completely hopeless at ALL sports!! We were at the beach until 7:30, when Mr. Payne came to get us and take us to the church to go to our host homes. We were with a lovely lady in her gorgeous house. She had a dog and 2 cats (the cats stayed outside because mom is allergic). The lady’s husband and son were not at home, and she said they had been done for 6 weeks. I think they went on some kind of trip, and she said she had met up with them and then they had gone to stay with her stepdaughter who was about to have a baby. Her house was so beautiful, and she was so nice. She packed us a cooler with drinks and lunch for the beach, and let us borrow her umbrella and boogie board. And she made us the most fabulous breakfast. Yes, it was super fantabulous. Anyhow, I think that’s pretty much it for Thursday.

July 29th

Well, we just drove almost all day. We left at 1:00 and got to Lake City, FL at 10:30ish. We just stayed the night there on the way to Cocoa Beach where we are today. Just our van left Nashville yesterday, and the blue van (minus AnnaGee) came today. Gee is flying down tomorrow from D.C., I think. We are in host homes tonight and tomorrow. We're in the same homes for 2 nights. Today we went to the beach for a while...I'll tell you about that tomorrow. We're going again in the morning. :) So, that's it for a long day of driving!! More tomorrow...

Dear Faith,

I just finished fixing your pants a little while ago. Not beautiful, but it will stay. I'll bring them Wednesday. Love, Allison :)

Jonesboro, AR

Well, yesterday we did our Jonesboro show. We left Nashville at 8:41 and drove about 5 hours to Jonesboro. It was an okay drive. No, really, it was fine. Of course, when you hit Arkansas the roads get really bumpy, but there's nothing to be done about that. I told Thad we should start a "repave Arkansas" fund. He said yes, we should, and he'd leave me to get that started. Uh-huh, yeah. Anyhow, we got to the church at 1:33. Yes, I feel like being exact with the time for this trip. :) Mr. Payne had told them we would be there at 2:00, so lunch wasn't ready yet. We loaded in and set up, and then had lunch, which was sandwiches and chips and salad. There was only 1 guy there, and he was running around getting everything for us. He was really nice and did a great job. After lunch we ran tech...I'm sure you knew that came next. :) Then we hung out for a while until time to get ready. The show was at 6:00. We did the show, which was really good. I almost sneezed on stage once, and I did sneeze backstage, and I thought it was loud, but mom said she didn't hear it. Of course, that doesn't mean no one in the audience did. Hmm. Krystin sneezed backstage at the end when it was just Jonathan and me on stage, but I didn't hear it. Wait!!! For all you people who think I'm perfect: I forgot to take a tree on last night. My brain skipped ahead and I thought I didn't have anything to do for about 10 minutes, so I went backstage (back where the dressing rooms were) for a minute. Right when I opened the door to come back I heard Chris say "alright then, you'll be sorry!", which is the last line before a scene change where I take a tree on. I thought "Ahh!! I forgot!" and then it was PITCH BLACK and I tripped up the 3 steps to backstage. You know, when there's a scene change it's really dark and people backstage have to take things on and get back off, and half the time people on stage have to get off and others get ready to go on. So, it is kind of crazy, especially in that minute right after the lights go off and no one can see anything, but everyone has to move around. Yeah, so I went for the tree and heard it moving already. It ended up that Katie P had gotten it. (Thanks KP!!) I could have gotten it if no one else was backstage and I didn't have to think about running into people, but it worked out. (I knew you Griffiths would want to know that I forgot something!! Wouldn't it have been great if no one else had gotten it and I had just failed completely??) Anyhow, after the show we loaded out really fast and hit the road. We left at 9:41. There were TONS of mosquitoes EVERYWHERE, and about 100 of them got into the van. We were slapping them for 15 minutes straight, and then there were stragglers for another 30 minutes. I thought it was insanely funny, but some people were kind of upset. I guess I could think it was funny because I didn't get bit. (Those of you who knew me when I was little will find that unbelievable. Yes, I think so too.) Now we have smashed mosquito guts and blood all over the van ceiling. Yeah. We got back to the college at 1:33 and everyone pretty much got out of the van and into their cars and left. We were all pretty sleepy. Wonder why. So, great, long, fun day. Quite possibly one of the longest days I have ever had. Of course, every day IS the same length, but some SEEM longer than others. But this long day was a wonderful one. Can't wait to see all the dead mosquitoes in the van on Wednesday. (we are leaving on Wednesday afternoon for FL)

Sunday show in AR

We are leaving at 8:30 tomorrow (Sunday) morning to head to Jonesboro, AR for a 6:00 show. We are driving back tomorrow night, instead of Monday morning. So, should be a long day, but for sure a good one!

Home again!

Well, we're home! We left the church at 9:00 this morning and drove ALL day. We drove 12ish hours and only stopped about 4 times. Breakfast at host homes, lunch at Arby's, no dinner (we snacked, then got Taco Bell on the way home), long all day drive. Kind of boring/really crazy. We were stuck in pretty well not moving traffic for about 1/2 hour, and it rained off and on starting in the afternoon. We got to the college at 9:20ish, started home at 9:40, stopped at Taco Bell and got home about 10:15. Lexie is still in AL with Grandparents, and William is with the Griffiths tonight and will come home from choir daycamp tomorrow. So, long day, good to be home, headed out again on Sunday for an AK show and back on Monday. We just got fliers about the Nashville show, and I'll be mailing them/passing them out soon!! Mark you calenders for August 15 & 16!

July 21st

Well, yesterday morning we were at the house in NJ. The night before the wonderful lady whose house we were staying at had offered us her bikes for a ride to the boardwalk, which was about 1 block away. Of course, mom wanted to go, and Elizabeth went with her. She didn’t tell me what time she was going to be back, so we didn’t know they were lost until about 10:05, because we had to leave at 10:15 and I didn’t think she was going to come back much later than 10:00. I didn’t really know they weren’t coming until 10:10, and then we just had to get all our stuff in the car and the lady went ahead and took the 3 of us to the church. (well, it wasn’t really a church, it was more of a Christian event center, but I’ll call it a church for now.) A few minutes after we got there Elizabeth came around the corner, followed by mom, and mom asked me where her phone was and why I didn’t answer it. We had left her suitcase at the house because she had said she was going to change clothes before we left and we weren’t sure if she had everything packed. So, I didn’t have her phone. She left the room and I assumed she was going back to the house to get her things. We were tearing down and loading out that morning, so there was enough time to go back to the house, which was about 8-10 minutes away. Mom doesn’t really do tear down, and a only a little load in/out, so it was okay for her to go. Apparently they had met a lady on the street outside her own house and she had driven them to the church, and she was going to drive mom back to the house we had stayed at, but someone from the church told her everything was fine and she could go. So mom had to wait for the lady we had stayed with to come get her, which I heard took a while. Mom had a box of doughnuts when she got in the van, so we think she went by and got them on her way to get mom. Anyhow, we had loaded out and got all our stuff in the vans and prayed with the people from the church and Mr. Payne said to get in…and mom still wasn’t there. I had called her when we all were going to the bathroom before getting in and told the girls that she was coming, but hadn’t left the house yet. I didn’t know how to tell Mr. Payne, so Gee told him for me (thank you Gee!), and he said never mind about getting in, because we couldn’t leave until mom got there. I was pretty much a nervous/embarrassed wreck, because I hadn’t known what to do when mom & Liz hadn’t shown up, and apparently had not done the right thing by leaving mom’s stuff behind. So, eventually mom did get there and we hit the road. We drove about 2 ½ hours to Elverson, PA. We got to drive through Philly, where Jonathan, Mom and I have been on NCC tour before, so that was cool. We saw the museum where they filmed Rocky on the steps, which is one of the places we went on the choir tour. That was pretty cool. We got the church in Elverson and had lunch…which was this amazing chicken and vegetables and rolls with sweet tea and fantastic pastries. The pastries were those little puff things with cream in the middle, and there were plain ones and chocolate covered ones and ones what were oval shaped with chocolate on top. I wanted the whole tray. After lunch we loaded in set up and ran tech. We used EVERYTHING. It was a good show…I heard there were about 600 people in the audience, and they were fantabulous. Lots of kids, some of which talked a bit, but not so bad. I don’t know of anything that went wrong, other than a few small things, which I won’t bother you with, other than this one…There is a scene change when the wardrobe and lamppost come off and the trees move back and the beaver dam and table with benches comes on. I have to unplug the lamppost as soon as I get off stage, as nothing can happen until it is off. I had to run off, unplug the lamppost, go back and get the lamppost off stage, go back again and get a tree off, then go help move the beaver dam on. So, I had unplugged the lamppost, done back for it, and turned around to go get the tree, when I rammed into something really hard and jagged on the edge. DUH, the beaver table, which I knew had to go out and was going to be moving right there. Katie D and Chris were taking it on and I just turned around and ran smack into it. Katie asked if I was okay and I said yes and she started laughing at me. (that all happened in about 3 seconds) It really did hurt for just a minute, but it was okay. I did get the tree off and over to the dam in time. After the show and load out we went to our host home, which was a beautiful big house. I didn’t know until the morning how beautiful the land was…the had a great big yard with some lovely trees and there was a gorgeous pond and horses across the street. They were so nice, and they made us an amazing breakfast…Eggs, potatoes, bacon and waffles, some of which were shaped like Mickey mouse!! There were also strawberries and whipped cream for the waffles. Yes, it was insanely fantabulous. I wish I could live in a place like that. So, I think that’s it for yesterday. As I am writing this we are in the van on the way home. We were making great time and now we are going slower than I can walk. I have no idea what it causing all the traffic, but we’ve been mostly sitting still for 30 minutes now. Oh well, we’ll get there eventually. :)

July 20th

We left the hotel at 8:30 and drove about, oh, I have no idea…it seems like it was 2 hours, but I really don’t know. The fantabulous hotel we were at didn’t have a complimentary breakfast, so it was $12.95 or McDonald’s. We went with McDonald’s. I ate a cinnamon bagel that mom had in the van and I only got hot chocolate at McD’s. We got to the place in Ocean City, NJ at about 11:00, going on 12:00. We had lunch, which was sandwiches and pasta salad, then we loaded in and set up and ran tech and did mic checks and then went to get our costumes and makeup on and then showtime!! (yes that was intentionally run-on ish) We did a 2:00 show and a 7:00 show, so we had a little free time in between, which was nice. Both shows were great. Thad messed up one line a little, which was pretty funny. The first show was kind of crazy because we had to change around some entrances because we only had wings enough for people on one side. Some scenes were flip-flopped entirely, and some were halfway flipped and then got turned around. For the second show, we agreed that when we entered from the opposite side from usual, you just go to you regular places from that side. It worked much better for the second show. We stayed with a lovely lady in her summer home, which is a gorgeous beach house. You can see the beach from the deck on the 3rd floor, as it was just one block away. It was so lovely there…the house was decorated so perfectly and it was just a wonderful place to be. I’d love to stay there all winter when they live in PA!! She fed us home-made brownies with whipped cream when we got there, and breakfast casserole for breakfast. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed it. Well, I guess I should go to bed now. We are in a home again tonight, a very nice home…and I have my own room!! By the way, we are getting home tomorrow!! 9:00pm -ish, I think. Then we are leaving on Sunday to do a show in AR and coming back on Monday. (Oh, yes, Mrs. Alice, I forgot to get that info from Mr. P…I’ll send him an email right now…)

July 19th

Well, we were supposed to leave the hotel at 8:45 (I think), but there is something going on with the way the trailer is hooked up to the van and how the lights work, so Aaron was working on it. (we got the trailer fixed today!) We left about 10 or 5 ‘til 9 and drove about 2 ½ hours to Pittsfield, MA. The show there was at Berkshire Community College, and the stage was amazing. It was a real theater, so there were wings and great backstage space and the floor was just right for Dwarf-style walking. :) We had lunch when we got there and then unloaded. Lunch was sandwiches and chips and this fantabulous chicken noodle/vegetable soup. I just ate the other half of my Panera sandwich from the night before (which was great) and some soup. I don’t remember all the details of yesterday, but nothing really exciting happened. After lunch, load in and tech we hung out for about 30 minutes and then got ready for the show. The show as at 5:00, and they didn’t open the doors until about 4:55. The audience as not that big…mom said it was 100-150…but it looked small in the big auditorium. They were good, but not great. They laughed a little, and we didn’t get to talk to them (which always lets you know how much they liked it, which they might have even if they don’t laugh much) because only Lucy and Aslan signed autographs. :( I actually signed 8, even though we weren’t supposed to. My jobs for putting up/taking down set are to do the wardrobe, Tumnus house and Witch’s throne. I usually load the prop box after the shows and sometimes take down curtains. We weren’t using the curtains, and we got the wardrobe and Tumnus house taken down during intermission. The Witch’s throne was halfway down, so I did that, and then started collecting the props. Only me, Jonny and Lizzy were done getting costumes off and back on stage to get set going. These 2 little girls came in and all the way up to the stage and their dad (I assume) asked if we were on the crew, and I said we were cast AND crew, so yes. The girls wanted me to sign their shirts, so I did. It was only 2, and I had done all my jobs and was doing extra, so I took a minute. Then another girl came in and I signed her program and then the other 2 got their programs out and then a man handed me a program, so I signed it too. After that a lady with a little boy brought me a piece of paper and then a little girl brought me another shirt. It only took about 2 minutes, and only Katie P came out during then and saw me, so I hoped I wouldn’t get in trouble. There was so little left to take down, and they came right to the stage, so I just wanted to talk to them for a minute, and ended up signing a bunch of stuff. Yeah. Anyhow, after that we got in the van with our Subway (MORONS!!) sandwiches that they ordered for us during the show. We drove for 3 hours and got to the (TOTALLY AMAZING!!) hotel at 12:04. There was a bride and groom that had just gotten there in a big SUV type of limousine. The hotel was sooo pretty. The walls were light green and the perfect blue that I want to paint my room. Right when you walk in there were 2 couches and a coffee table and beyond that was a big breakfast area with cloth napkins folded on the table and the silverware all set out and long white tablecloths…altogether awesome. There was only one elevator working, and it was kind of slow, so it took a while to get in our rooms and settle in. When we got into the room my mouth dropped open. It was freezing, but that’s not why. It was really big, and there was a long desk along one wall with a great big flat screen tv on it. It was all very modern, cool looking furniture, and the beds were so soft and comfy. I stayed in bed this morning until we had 20 minutes to be at the van, it was that good. So, that’s all for yesterday. Today we did 2 shows in Ocean City, NJ. All went well, and we are all staying in host homes tonight. The house we are at is wonderful. It is right near the ocean and it is so big and the furniture is so pretty (primarily blue!) and the people are so nice. We got to meet them at the show this afternoon. Anyhow, great day, hopefully great night. Right now the others are watching the tape of the LWW play they did 2 years ago, when the Griffiths were in it. Don't know why we turned on a movie at midnight, but hey...

July 18th

July 18th We left the hotel at 12:20ish… we had to be at the vans at 12:15 for a 12:30 leave, but since we didn’t have to load in suitcases we pretty much just got in and left. We went to The Pavilion and unloaded and had lunch. We unloaded first because lunch was supposed to be at 1:00 and we got there at 12:28. Lunch was amazing. They made us all sit at the tables and then they rolled out carts and put dished of food on the tables. It was “family style”. The food was chicken, potatoes, cooked carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and rolls. There was also a salad bar with a huge-o fruit bowl. Dessert was this fantabulous cheesecake with strawberries and whipped cream and little apple pies and ice cream. I just got the cheesecake…which I was so slow at eating that I had to eat it while we walked back to the Pavilion. Anyhow, we started setting up…things on wheels first, because the stage was all wet from condensation. I guess those things happen with outdoor stages. It was made of concrete or something close, so I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised. After setting up comes tech, which took a long time because we haven’t used everything since, oh, Redding, CA, on June 10th. We did use almost everything in Kansas, on June 25th, except for the suit of amour because we cut that scene to make the show fit in the time they gave us. The Pavilion stage was huge so we had plenty of room and we had great backstage room for all the set pieces. Yeah, it was amazing. I personally did not have a very good show. We had almost all been kind of drained and just down all day, but it was better at showtime. I always have this great energy boost when the show starts and I get on stage. I messed up a whole bunch, though. I forgot that I had to come back and get Chris in one scene and I left him sitting on the stage waiting for me…then I remembered and ran back out. I was thinking “why is he taking so long??” and then I realized that it was because I had to go back out and get him. Duh. :S I also forgot to put my horn on for the beginning of act 2. Mr. Payne said his line about my horn (which is RIGHT before we all come on screaming to get away from Fenris Ulf), and I looked down and I knew I didn’t have it (it hangs around my neck). Shoot. We took the wardrobe apart during intermission (which is kind of my job) and I always take it off to do that because it swings around and bangs on the wardrobe. I had just forgotten to put it back on. Grr. Then I messed up the whole ending scene. I don’t know what happened, but I just forgot all my lines. I didn’t forget what they were, just when they came. It was horrible, I just ruined it. Sooo dumb. But I don’t think the audience really knew, as it wasn’t all that bad. So yeah, I didn’t have a great show. I was feeling fine, energetic and all, but I just messed up a lot. :S Oohh!! The funniest thing about that show was when Faith spit all over Jonathan’s face!! It was when the Witch comes in and wants to kill Edmund and Aslan talks to her. There is a place where she shoves Jonny down and the Faith comes over and smacks her whip at him and pretty much just intimidates him. Apparently she somehow spit all over his right cheek. Later that scene I saw it and thought he was sweating, and Krystin thought he had gotten hit and was crying out of one eye. But no, it was spit. REALLY funny. :) :) After tech and before the show we went to the beach for about 30 minutes. The Pavilion was ½ mile from the beach, so we kind of had to go. We just got to walk out on a pier and some of us got our feet wet a little. The weather was lovely and the water was calm and just perfect. It was really fun…but Gee said, and I think I have to agree, that it was just a mean teaser. =I After the show we loaded out and headed back to the hotel. Load out was kind of slow…don’t really know why, unless it was just the drowsy sluggishness that had been plaguing us all day. It was especially humid and pretty hot, and I think it kind of pulled us all down a little. But it really wasn’t all that bad. So, all in all, it was a good day, pretty good show, and fun times. Today was great. I’m typing this out in the van on the way to the hotel, which is in New Jersey. We hit the road at 8:20 and it is a 3 hour drive. We have 2 shows tomorrow, on at 2 and one at 7, so we need to get there really early. **We just got to the hotel…which is …AWESOME!!!!! I HAVE to find a way to get pictures of it on here somewhere!!! Well, got to leave at 8:15 tomorrow, so goodnight!

July 17th

July 17th. What a day. I was awakened by 1) the sound of Dora the Explorer on the tv...don't know why, and 2) Faith running into our room and doing a kind of flying leap almost onto me, also don't know why. Yes, it was interesting, but it got me up!! :) I was the last one in bed, and everyone else had been up for a good while. I really didn't have much to do other than get dressed and such (no extra packing). We didn’t have to leave until 12, which is always nice. The same people were in charge of yesterday and today’s performances, so they fed us for 2 days. We went to a place called The Pavilion, where we did the show tonight, and had lunch there. We got to look around and see the stage and all before hand, which was nice. The place was so pretty; we got to have lunch out at some picnic tables on the grass. It was a beautiful day. After lunch we drove to where we did the show yesterday, which was at a kids’ camp. It was outdoors (as was tonight), and the stage was really small. Still, it was cool. The stage was a bunch of little platforms stuck together and it was in a little shelter that looked like it should have a few picnic tables under it. We drove past all the kids on the way in…and I saw a guy with a red Mohawk and the rest of his hair was greenish blue something. I heard that the camp was for ages 6-16, and I said “Cool, that means I’m older that ALL of them!!”. Ha ha ha. They were a great audience. They didn’t laugh all that much, but no too bad (and they kind of talked during blackouts sometimes), and they cheered SO LOUD at curtain call…they were screaming!! THAT was cool. We had some extra time before the show, so we got to go down to a lake. The lake was part of the camp, and the people there said the kids go down there and they have a great big blow up thing they put on the water that the kids can climb on and jump off of. It was really pretty...there were lots of little pebbles everywhere. We got to get our feet wet a little and collect pebbles (and, if you're me, take pictures!!) It was really a lovely little break from show stuff; I quite enjoyed it. The show was kind of crazy. Since it was outdoors, which was a new experience, we had to take what the weather offered. When we were setting up it was really breezy and the curtains were blowing EVERYWHERE!! We pinned some extra pipes into the bottom of them to make them stay down. The ones we had to enter/exit from just had to blow. But there was far less wind (only a few little breezes every now and then) by showtime. BUT…it rained. We had very little backstage space under the shelter, so we had everything laid out behind it on a picnic table and the box that the lamppost is stored in. When it started raining we all scrambled around to get everything in a dry place. It wasn’t raining very hard, just sprinkling a little, but we couldn’t let everything get wet, so we did a fruit basket turnover with all the props. In that mess, I put a book that I use at the beginning and a paper in the lamppost box because I thought we were done with them. We had cut the scene at the beginning with the book, and the paper (which is a map) was in that scene as well. I had forgotten (like an idiot!) that we use the paper again later as something else. When we needed it, no one could find it and the 4 of us kids were on stage (where I’m supposed to see the paper and pick it up and we read it…we really couldn’t do without it!!). We all had no idea what to do!! Krystin said “maybe it’s over here” (meaning Tumnus’ house that she was looking for), and ran backstage. I heard this ripping sound and she runs back on with 2 pages from a book. She said “look what I found!” and we got back on track. The thing is, she thought the book was the one that I use in the beginning, when it was really one that Thad was reading for a class. He’s been reading it for a few days and had a paper due on it. Oh, and it wasn’t even his book!! It was his brother’s. So, it was bad. I felt really bad because it was my fault for “hiding” the paper in the first place. He said it was okay, don’t worry about it, so I’m trying not to. Crumbs. The stage pulled apart during the Peter/Wolf fight. Jonny fell down and it just slid forward about 3 inches, leaving this big gap that anyone might step into. When that scene was over, and Aslan is taking Jonny, Krystin and I off to the pavilion to await the others Mr. Payne (who plays Aslan) said “In the meantime, would some of the Narnia helpers come and move this stone back into place”. That was kind of funny…but I guess we had to do something!! After the show (and loading up!) they took us to the camp dining hall and we had dinner. It was corn and ham and jello and baked potatoes and ice cream sandwiches or dessert!! And the ham was -- oh my goodness -- SOOO GOOD. Quite possibly the best ham I’ve ever had. Yeah, it was amazing. I know there were a few other things that happened during the show…but I don’t remember all the details, and I’m sure you don’t really want to know EVERYTHING wrong that happens every night!! For now, I think that’s it. Today was great too, and I’ll try to get the post typed up in the van so all I have to do is copy and paste it and you can actually read it the day I wrote it!! Love you all!!

July 16th

So, it seems that when I upload pictures to the blog they turn into a huge-o blob of letters like a big link to nothing in particular...I'm still working on how to get them to be pictures again. :( Alrighty now…The story of July 16th Yesterday I got up at 8:45 and actually went to breakfast, which closed at 9. I usually don’t go to breakfast, so it was kind of a big deal. The only thing was that they really didn’t have anything I wanted. Faith had asked me to come get her if I went because she wanted to go too, but I knocked and they didn’t answer (I already knew they were all asleep), so I just brought her some stuff back. I got back to the room and I typed out yesterday’s blog post and tried to get online (which didn’t work, of course!), and ate my yogurt from breakfast. The others didn’t wake up until about 11, I think, so I was just sitting there by myself listening to 4 other people snoring and waiting until I knew everyone would be up so I could find out what we were doing do to all day. Half of the group wanted to go see the new Harry Potter movie, which we were not going to do, so I was wondering if there were other options. They said we were going to lunch at Mcdonald’s and then coming right back to the hotel. So, all of us except mom and Mr. Payne (he had left early and gone on a ferry to an island) left. This is what actually happened: We drove around until we figured out where the movie theater was and where to park (which was on the very top of a parking garage!) and then waked down to the theater for those who were getting tickets to buy them. Then we went to a little bakery place right next door and had lunch. Most people got some kind of sandwich, and I got a wrap thing that was really good. After that AnnaGee and the Katies went to see the movie (they saw it twice!…the crazies.) and Raya and Krystin went to walk around downtown and shop and Aaron, Faith and all of us Hearns (except mom, who had stayed at the hotel) went back to the hotel. We hung out for a while until 6 when Aaron and Faith were going to the movie (Gee and the Katies were going to stay with them and watch it again). I mostly hung out in Faith’s room, where in internet plague wasn’t following me, and Chris went swimming for a while and the other kids watched Sponge Bob or something. Anyhow, we left at 6 and we just walked around downtown and looked at all the little shops and had dinner while everyone else was at the movie. Us kids had pizza for dinner and mom left us there (gasp!!) and went to a chowder house and had fish chowder. We got done first and started walking (about a block) to where mom was. We saw Raya and Krystin (who had been downtown all day) and stopped and talked to them for a minute. Mom wanted to walk out on the dock, so we did. It was pretty. There was a huge boat thing that some guy on the dock told mom could hover (or something like that) when out at sea. It looked pretty cool. So, after the dock we started back toward the movie theater to meet up with those guys. We were right on time…they were coming out the door when we reached it. Then Aaron called Raya and Krystin and they came. Then we (Faith and I) looked around for a bathroom…which was a bit of an adventure. Maine must have issues with people off the street coming into stores just to use the bathroom. Many of the stores had signs on the doors saying that the bathrooms were for customers only. So, after trying the Dunkin’ Doughnuts across the street, which apparently had no bathrooms at all, we just went into the theater. I said we were so breaking the rules and she said that she had been a customer and I was her guest. Ha ha. Anyhow, that’s pretty much it. Tonight’s show was great. It was at a kid’s camp and it was outdoors…a new experience. Some great funny stuff happened…I’ll tell you tomorrow. We are in this hotel for 2 nights (most always a good thing!) and our family has 2 rooms because we were over booked. Jonny and I are in one room and Mom, Liz and Chris are in the other, at least for tonight. I’ve been working on fixing Faith’s costume…that thing has needed some good old TLC for a good long time!! I did all kinds of stuff to it…and I’m almost done!! I really need to go finish it so she can have it all fixed for the show tomorrow. (Yes, she wore it unfinished tonight, but at least the buttons were fixed!! I’m just tacking things back where they are supposed to go, so it’s not unbearable if I’m not done, but better if I am!) So, I really have to get going…tomorrow will be a good post!!

July 15th

Sooo, yesterday. Let me just warn you now…it was CRAZY!! (okay, by “yesterday” I do really mean July 15th)and again, the pictures won't work just now...I'll get them on here soon!! SO yesterday started at 2:45 am for me. We had to be out at the vans at 3:45 for a 4:00 leave. The alarm went off (on the phone that we DID get back from Montana!) and I rolled over and got up. I got dressed and whatnot and I had decided to fix my hair for the show, so I wouldn’t have to do it later, but I didn’t end up getting it all done. I usually pull back the top half of my hair and put in 2 French braids that join in the back. I like to straighten the part that’s left down, because that makes it not frizzy. So, I just pulled back and separated the part I was going to braid and hit the rest with the straightener. I just did the braided part later in the van. Anyhow, we all showed up at the van and got the suitcases in and hit the road. Everyone was pretty well awake, so no one could go back to sleep for a little while. So we just talked a while and everyone dropped off to sleep. I didn’t go to sleep until 6:30ish (I think), because I thought I heard Mr. Payne say we would stop for breakfast between 5:30 and 6:00. I didn’t want to go to sleep and then have to wake right back up…again. So, I read for a while (with my jacket over my head so the light from my headlamp wouldn’t bother anybody) and then listened to some music and took pictures of the sunrise in Pennsylvania. But of course, we didn’t stop until 7-something and it was only a gas/potty break. We didn’t get breakfast until 10:00ish,and we had McDonalds, which was okay because I was sooooo hungry!! Then back in the van… Next stop was 1:20 at a truck stop place that had a big food court and gift shop kind of thing. We didn’t really have any time to look around, and we couldn’t eat lunch because Mr. P said there was a hot meal at the church for when we got there, which was supposed to be about 4. So back in the van again. I braided Fatih’s hair in the van (that was interesting!). I couldn’t really see what I was doing, so it wasn’t the prettiest braid I’ve ever done, but it goes under a wig, so it was okay. We drove past NYC. We could see it pretty well…It was just hard to get a good picture because of the roadside trees. Ah, trees…the bane of my picture-taking existence. We got to the church at 3:55 and got the trailer unloaded…in 13 minutes!! Yeah, go team!! We got set up really fast (about 45 minutes) and ran tech. Then we had dinner. Dinner was lobster (which some of the girl had been craving) and mashed potatoes and salad and some thing almost like rice that I didn’t know what it was and have forgotten the name of. I missed the “lobster lesson”, so I had no idea how to eat it. I really just wanted to play with one, no eat it. And when everyone else started pulling theirs apart and picking out that green stuff that most people don’t eat, I knew I didn’t want to eat it. There was water going everywhere because every time you break open a new part of the lobster a whole bunch of water poured out. I just got a claw and I got 2 bites out of it and then played with it. So, that satisfied my lobster wants. After dinner we all got ready and did the show! It was really interesting. Act 1 was really good; no one forgot anything that I can remember. I remembered everything I was supposed to put on/tack off. Oh, one of the trees started coming apart. The trees are wooden bases (on wheels) with screws in the top that we put PVC pipe over so hold then on. The thing is that the pipes won’t stay when they are just placed over a 2-3 inch long screw, so we tape them onto the base as well. Well, 3 of the 6 pipes came off their screws. So, the tree was kind of flat, but still standing. I had to try and get the pipes back onto the screws before I had to put it back out on stage again. (the stage was set up so that this tree couldn’t get off stage really well and some of the audience could still see it when it was off stage) I got them back on, but the tape wasn’t sticking on ANY of the poles. We move those trees around a lot, so we had to be REALLY careful with that one, or else it would just fall over. Anyhow, enough about the tree. The stage was carpeted, and they could hardly move the witch’s sleigh , so Faith just walked beside it. Oh, I forgot! I laughed on stage at a place where I’ve never laughed before. I didn’t laugh out loud, I just almost did and then had to pretend I was about to cry. When Mr. Beaver comes out he comes over to us 4 kids and we do something funny (I won’t tell you now or I might ruin it for when you come see it!) and this lady that had a really funny laugh laughed really loud. So, I wasn’t really laughing because of something in the show…it was that lady’s laugh. So then I had to be way more upset about meeting Mr. Beaver than I usually am because I had to pretend I was about to cry, and I couldn’t just be about to cry one second and just find the next. It was okay. Christopher’s voice cracked hilariously on one line just before the Mr. B part. The line is “That’s why we borrowed these coats from the wardrobe, Susan”, and he cracked on “that’s”. It was really funny, and Jonathan and I were trying REALLY HARD not to laugh. So, that’s all I can remember from act 1. In act 2, however, there’s much more!! First off, I was doing this trick/joke that’s a “do what I do” with my fingers at intermission. There really wasn’t anything wrong with that, and I hope it wasn’t what crashed Aaron, and he says it wasn’t, and I hope he is right. Most everybody was behind the main curtain (we had one in the middle and 2 wings on the sides, but we were only supposed to be behind the middle one unless we had to be on the side. The dressing rooms were off the sides, so we had to do across the gap in the curtains to get to them), and I saw Aaron behind one of the side curtains, so I went over there to get him to do the trick (as I had done it to pretty much everyone else). I was just about to tell him the answer (because he couldn’t get it) when the lights started going down. So, the lights were down and Aaron went on stage and I went back behind the middle curtain and everyone behind the curtain who were supposed to be on got on stage. Act 2 opens in the Witch’s courtyard full of statues, so they had to be out there and still before the lights came up. Aaron has a box he sits on (that he usually takes on and Katie P takes off), that was behind the middle curtain. I got to the mid. curtain and she had the box and was saying “Where’s Aaron?! Where’s Aaron?!” and I said he was on stage. Anyhow, I don’t know why, but there was this huge rushing around panicky thing to get everybody in the right place. The lights came up and everything was right and Thad (who was standing next to me just then) said “Now that was crazy, right there!”, and I said “Uh-huh” and thought “What in the world just happened?!?!” So, after that there’s a scene in the Witch’s throne room and then we get to outside in warm Narnia. At that scene change, the 2 trees and the stone table come on, and stay almost all the way to the end. I had to get the broken tree, which I almost left in the wrong place. There was a huge scurrying around in that blackout and I was wondering what was going on. So, the lights came up and I came on with Jonathan, Krystin and the beavers, and I thought “Oh, my goodness!! What just happened with the stone table?? Oh man, Aaron is kicking himself so hard right now!!” So, the table is in 3 pieces -- 2 “legs” and the top. Chris and Jonny get the legs and Aaron gets the top. When the lights came up there were 2 legs out there and NO TOP!! Krystin, the beavers and me go off for a minute in that scene while Jonny stays with Aslan. Then we all some on, except the Witch and Dwarf. We all come on screaming and then Aaron jumps out. When I got offstage before we all run back on Aaron was sitting on his little box with his head down and his eyes closed…and you could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears. When he forgets things he gets mad a himself and then he channels that anger into his character (which makes Fenris Ulf just incredibly scary). When he has just forgotten something and is sitting with his head down, you don’t talk to him. I don’t know that he’d really do anything if you did, it just seems like a REALLY bad idea. So, yeah, he was mad. We all went on, he came out and the Peter/wolf fight was sooo good. It was intense. Aaron was hitting hard (and spitting everywhere) and the whole thing was just amazing. Later I said how good it was to Katie D and she said “Yeah, because Aaron was ticked off!…We should tick him off every night.” Ha ha!! So, that was the worst of it. We have to cover the stone table at the part just after that (because it’s not supposed to be on stage but we can’t take it off), and when they uncovered it Thad was supposed to get the top on. I don’t know what happened, but there was the rushing around panicky thing again and when the lights came up the table was all crooked, but all on stage. In the blackout I saw the curtain open and Thad get the top out, then he flipped the top over (because he had it the wrong way) and I think he might have bumped one of the legs. He and Aaron both were scrambling to get in all together and get off stage before the lights came up. I don’t know what was going on…but it was NOT normal. Of course, putting the table top on then was not normal, so the whole thing was just messed up. Umm…trying to remember if there was anything else… Oh, Aaron was behind a side curtain instead of the middle because he had the change clothes for the killing Aslan part. The thing is, his rope he was supposed to bring on was behind the middle. So, when they had to come out he come from the opposite side from everyone else and Elizabeth brought him the rope. After Aslan dies and the evil people leave and Krystin and I walk around crying the lights go out and normally Thad comes out and helps My. P up and takes him backstage to get his ropes off and Aaron knocks over the stone table. We are going to do an outdoor show (that should be interesting!), so we changed that part a little. Krystin and I were supposed to run back like we were hiding from the Witch again and Thad was going to just help Mr. P up and then knock over the table. I forgot that we were doing it differently (I didn’t forget everything, just that we were NOT supposed to look toward the table), and Krystin kept shoving me back to where we had hidden when they killed Aslan (which is what she was supposed to do), and I thought “why is she pushing me?”. I did remember, but it was when we were on the floor hiding. Duh, Allison…think sometimes!! That and I almost forgot a line…that I knew came right then but my brain was trying to tell me that it wasn’t my line. At the coronation Katie P got Jonathan’s crown on all wrong. It was flipped under on the back and the top was slanted down. It looked ridiculous, but he was the only on who could fix it, and he didn’t. When we got offstage after that (and the 4 of us kids have to run right back on) Katie said “Jonathan, you come here!!” and she was laughing like crazy and so was I. It was funny!! So, I don’t think there was anything else to tell about the show. We got a standing ovation…which was funny when you know how crazy that show was! After we loaded up (and took food from all the stuff they brought us…water, chips, granola bars, cokes…) we got in the van and drove for and hour and a half to get to the hotel, most of which we had driven past earlier to get to the church where the show was. We didn’t have a hotel close to where the show was because of the mix up. I think we were going to be here tonight anyhow, though I really don’t know. I do know that we are going to be here 2 nights…and the next show is tomorrow. We listened to all kinds of crazy music in the van. Katie P (and pretty much everyone else) was in a dancing mood, so Aaron plugged his ipod into the van speakers and played all kinds of craziness. Yes, we even listened to the Bohemian Rhapsody. I knew about, oh, 5% of the songs. I knew “Saturday in the park” and “The Bohemian Rhapsody” and there were probably a few others that I thought I’d heard before. And by “knew” I mean have heard a few times and know a few assorted words. So, I guess you could say that I didn’t really know anything we listened to. Oh well, as long as it’s not Michael Jackson or the Beatles (which we did listen to on the last trip! --not my favorite). Well, since I’m sure you have something other to do than just sit there and read about what we’re doing I’ll stop now. I have no idea what we’re doing today. Everyone else in my room is asleep still (and it’s 11:00). I know some people are going to go see a movie and some want to go to the beach, but what we’re doing I have no idea. The beach sounds great…except that I know it will be FREEZING!!

July 15th

Alright, this is REALLY long. If there are any references to pictures, that's because I wrote it before I found out that I coulnd't do them and I didn't want to go over this whole thing AGAIN. Oh, and there ARE 2 posts today...be sure to read them both. I meant to do one last night and one today, but it woudn't work last night. Sooo, yesterday. Let me just warn you now…it was CRAZY!! (okay, by “yesterday” I do really mean July 15th) SO yesterday started at 2:45 am for me. We had to be out at the vans at 3:45 for a 4:00 leave. The alarm went off (on the phone that we DID get back from Montana!) and I rolled over and got up. I got dressed and whatnot and I had decided to fix my hair for the show, so I wouldn’t have to do it later, but I didn’t end up getting it all done. I usually pull back the top half of my hair and put in 2 French braids that join in the back. I like to straighten the part that’s left down, because that makes it not frizzy. So, I just pulled back and separated the part I was going to braid and hit the rest with the straightener. I just did the braided part later in the van. Anyhow, we all showed up at the van and got the suitcases in and hit the road. Everyone was pretty well awake, so no one could go back to sleep for a little while. So we just talked a while and everyone dropped off to sleep. I didn’t go to sleep until 6:30ish (I think), because I thought I heard Mr. Payne say we would stop for breakfast between 5:30 and 6:00. I didn’t want to go to sleep and then have to wake right back up…again. So, I read for a while (with my jacket over my head so the light from my headlamp wouldn’t bother anybody) and then listened to some music and took pictures of the sunrise in Pennsylvania. But of course, we didn’t stop until 7-something and it was only a gas/potty break. We didn’t get breakfast until 10:00ish,and we had McDonalds, which was okay because I was sooooo hungry!! Then back in the van… Next stop was 1:20 at a truck stop place that had a big food court and gift shop kind of thing. We didn’t really have any time to look around, and we couldn’t eat lunch because Mr. P said there was a hot meal at the church for when we got there, which was supposed to be about 4. So back in the van again. I braided Fatih’s hair in the van (that was interesting!). I couldn’t really see what I was doing, so it wasn’t the prettiest braid I’ve ever done, but it goes under a wig, so it was okay. We drove past NYC. We could see it pretty well…It was just hard to get a good picture because of the roadside trees. Ah, trees…the bane of my picture-taking existence. We got to the church at 3:55 and got the trailer unloaded…in 13 minutes!! Yeah, go team!! We got set up really fast (about 45 minutes) and ran tech. Then we had dinner. Dinner was lobster (which some of the girl had been craving) and mashed potatoes and salad and some thing almost like rice that I didn’t know what it was and have forgotten the name of. I missed the “lobster lesson”, so I had no idea how to eat it. I really just wanted to play with one, no eat it. And when everyone else started pulling theirs apart and picking out that green stuff that most people don’t eat, I knew I didn’t want to eat it. There was water going everywhere because every time you break open a new part of the lobster a whole bunch of water poured out. I just got a claw and I got 2 bites out of it and then played with it. So, that satisfied my lobster wants. After dinner we all got ready and did the show! It was really interesting. Act 1 was really good; no one forgot anything that I can remember. I remembered everything I was supposed to put on/tack off. Oh, one of the trees started coming apart. The trees are wooden bases (on wheels) with screws in the top that we put PVC pipe over so hold then on. The thing is that the pipes won’t stay when they are just placed over a 2-3 inch long screw, so we tape them onto the base as well. Well, 3 of the 6 pipes came off their screws. So, the tree was kind of flat, but still standing. I had to try and get the pipes back onto the screws before I had to put it back out on stage again. (the stage was set up so that this tree couldn’t get off stage really well and some of the audience could still see it when it was off stage) I got them back on, but the tape wasn’t sticking on ANY of the poles. We move those trees around a lot, so we had to be REALLY careful with that one, or else it would just fall over. Anyhow, enough about the tree. The stage was carpeted, and they could hardly move the witch’s sleigh , so Faith just walked beside it. Oh, I forgot! I laughed on stage at a place where I’ve never laughed before. I didn’t laugh out loud, I just almost did and then had to pretend I was about to cry. When Mr. Beaver comes out he comes over to us 4 kids and we do something funny (I won’t tell you now or I might ruin it for when you come see it!) and this lady that had a really funny laugh laughed really loud. So, I wasn’t really laughing because of something in the show…it was that lady’s laugh. So then I had to be way more upset about meeting Mr. Beaver than I usually am because I had to pretend I was about to cry, and I couldn’t just be about to cry one second and just find the next. It was okay. Christopher’s voice cracked hilariously on one line just before the Mr. B part. The line is “That’s why we borrowed these coats from the wardrobe, Susan”, and he cracked on “that’s”. It was really funny, and Jonathan and I were trying REALLY HARD not to laugh. So, that’s all I can remember from act 1. In act 2, however, there’s much more!! First off, I was doing this trick/joke that’s a “do what I do” with my fingers at intermission. There really wasn’t anything wrong with that, and I hope it wasn’t what crashed Aaron, and he says it wasn’t, but I’m not totally sure I believe him. Most everybody was behind the main curtain (we had one in the middle and 2 wings on the sides, but we were only supposed to be behind the middle one unless we had to be on the side. The dressing rooms were off the sides, so we had to do across the gap in the curtains to get to them), and I saw Aaron behind one of the side curtains, so I went over there to get him to do the trick (as I had done it to pretty much everyone else). I was just about to tell him the answer (because he couldn’t get it) when the lights started going down. So, the lights were down and Aaron went on stage and I went back behind the middle curtain and everyone behind the curtain who were supposed to be on got on stage. Act 2 opens in the Witch’s courtyard full of statues, so they had to be out there and still before the lights came up. Aaron has a box he sits on (that he usually takes on and Katie P takes off), that was behind the middle curtain. I got to the mid. curtain and she had the box and was saying “Where’s Aaron?! Where’s Aaron?!” and I said he was on stage. Anyhow, I don’t know why, but there was this huge rushing around panicky thing to get everybody in the right place. The lights came up and everything was right and Thad (who was standing next to me just then) said “Now that was crazy, right there!”, and I said “Uh-huh” and thought “What in the world just happened?!?!” So, after that there’s a scene in the Witch’s throne room and then we get to outside in warm Narnia. At that scene change, the 2 trees and the stone table come on, and stay almost all the way to the end. I had to get the broken tree, which I almost left in the wrong place. There was a huge scurrying around in that blackout and I was wondering what was going on. So, the lights came up and I came on with Jonathan, Krystin and the beavers, and I thought “Oh, my goodness!! What just happened with the stone table?? Oh man, Aaron is kicking himself so hard right now!!” So, the table is in 3 pieces -- 2 “legs” and the top. Chris and Jonny get the legs and Aaron gets the top. When the lights came up there were 2 legs out there and NO TOP!! Krystin, the beavers and me go off for a minute in that scene while Jonny stays with Aslan. Then we all some on, except the Witch and Dwarf. We all come on screaming and then Aaron jumps out. When I got offstage before we all run back on Aaron was sitting on his little box with his head down and his eyes closed…and you could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears. When he forgets things he gets mad a himself and then he channels that anger into his character (which makes Fenris Ulf just incredibly scary). When he has just forgotten something and is sitting with his head down, you don’t talk to him. I don’t know that’s he’d really do anything if you did, it just seems like a really bad idea. So, yeah, he was mad. We all went on, he came out and the Peter/wolf fight was sooo good. It was intense. Aaron was hitting hard (and spitting everywhere) and the whole thing was just amazing. Later I said how good it was to Katie D and she said “Yeah, because Aaron was ticked off!…We should tick him off every night.” Ha ha!! So, that was the worst of it. We have to cover the stone table at the part just after that (because it’s not supposed to be on stage but we can’t take it off), and when they uncovered it Thad was supposed to get the top on. I don’t know what happened, but there was the rushing around panicky thing again and when the lights came up the table was all crooked, but all on stage. In the blackout I saw the curtain open and Thad get the top out, then he flipped the top over (because he had it the wrong way) and I think he might have bumped one of the legs. He and Aaron both were scrambling to get in all together and get off stage before the lights came up. I don’t know what was going on…but it was NOT normal. Of course, putting the table top on then was not normal, so the whole thing was just messed up. Umm…trying to remember if there was anything else… Oh, Aaron was behind a side curtain instead of the middle because he had the change clothes for the killing Aslan part. The thing is, his rope he was supposed to bring on was behind the middle. So when they came on he came from the opposite from everyone else and Elizabeth brought him the rope. After Aslan dies and the evil people leave and Krystin and I walk around crying the lights go out and normally Thad comes out and helps My. P up and takes him backstage to get his ropes off and Aaron knocks over the stone table. We are going to do an outdoor show (that should be interesting!), so we changed that part a little. Krystin and I were supposed to run back like we were hiding from the Witch again and Thad was going to just help Mr. P up and then knock over the table. I forgot that we were doing it differently (I didn’t forget everything, just that we were NOT supposed to look toward the table), and Krystin kept shoving me back to where we had hidden when they killed Aslan (which is what she was supposed to do), and I thought “why is she pushing me?”. I did remember, but it was when we were on the floor hiding. Duh, Allison…think sometimes!! That and I almost forgot a line…that I knew came right then but my brain was trying to tell me that it wasn’t my line. At the coronation Katie P got Jonathan’s crown on all wrong. It was flipped under on the back and the top was slanted down. It looked ridiculous, but he was the only on who could fix it, and he didn’t. Whe we got offstage after that (and the 4 of us kids have to run right back on) Katie said “Jonathan, you come here!!” and she was laughing like crazy and so was I. It was funny!! So, I don’t think there was anything else to tell about the show. We got a standing ovation…which was funny when you know how crazy that show was! After we loaded up (and took food from all the stuff they brought us…water, chips, granola bars, cokes…) we got in the van and drove for and hour and a half to get to the hotel, most of which we had driven past earlier to get to the church where the show was. We didn’t have a hotel close to where the show was because of the mix up. I think we were going to be here tonight anyhow, though I really don’t know. I do know that we are going to be here 2 nights…and the next show is tomorrow. We listened to all kinds of crazy music in the van. Katie P (and pretty much everyone else) was in a dancing mood, so Aaron plugged his ipod into the van speakers and played all kinds of craziness. Yes, we even listened to the Bohemian Rhapsody. I knew about, oh, 5% of the songs. I knew “Saturday in the park” and “The Bohemian Rhapsody” and there were probably a few others that I thought I’d heard before. And by “knew” I mean have heard a few times and know a few assorted words. So, I guess you could say that I didn’t really know anything we listened to. Oh well, as long as it’s not Michael Jackson or the Beatles (which we did listen to on the last trip! --not my favorite). Well, since I’m sure you have something other to do than just sit there and read about what we’re doing I’ll stop now. I have no idea what we’re doing today. Everyone else in my room is asleep still (and it’s 11:00). I know some people are going to go see a movie and some want to go to the beach, but what we’re doing I have no idea. The beach sounds great…except that I know it will be FREEZING!!

July 14th

(Meant to be posted on Wednesday, July 15th, but I couldn't get online...I got on today but it turned the pictures I put on into a big jumble of words, so, no pictures :( ) So yesterday (Tuesday, July 14th), we left Nashville at 9:00 am and drove about 11 hours to Winchester, VA. It was a long drive, but everyone was in a good mood, so it was okay. We stopped at a Love’s (we LOVE Love’s!) and got lunch there. Some of us got the Subway (MORONS!!) that was in the Love’s, and some went to Burger King and Taco Bell that were nearby. For anyone who doesn’t know what Love’s is, it is a gas station/truck stop/store usually with a restaurant kind of deal. We were actually greeted by a very nice cashier when we came into the store…I think that’s a first. We got to the hotel (Best Western) about 8:00 and as soon as everyone got all settled in Mr. Payne called us into his room and told us that there had been some kind of mix up about when the show was. We thought it was Thursday night, but it was actually Wednesday night. So, we had to leave by 4:00 am to get there on time. It was that or cancel the show…so we went with the 4:00 leave. It was kind of funny to all show up at the van and it be dark outside. Everyone was looking around like “uhhh…I so want to be asleep right now!!”. Except Faith, who was walking around the parking lot to get some steps on her pedometer because she would just be riding in the van for most of the day. It was so weird loading the van with a big moon shining down!! We stopped for dinner at McDonald's (or Wendy’s, if you chose to walk across the parking lot). We got a Trip Mascot from Katie P’s Happy Meal…drum roll…Scratte from the new Ice Age movie!! She has a little acorn on her back that pops up and down. Aaron taped her onto the dashboard so we could all see her. I got a picture of the Tom Tom (a BIG part of the trip) and Scratte, supposedly going to be a big deal. She is currently still on the dashboard, so maybe it will last. Katie P said our motto should be “No pain, no mane”, which we have not voted on yet. I think it would work as well to say “No Payne, No Mane”, or, right now, “ No Pain, No Maine”, even though I don’t think there’s really much pain involved…It’s mostly just sweat. :p The drive was GORGEOUS!! There were a lot of lovely farms. I love to see lots of green land with a white rail fence around a rambling farmhouse and a big barn with horses or cows grazing in the field…It’s just so pretty!! There were also a good amount of mountains (that didn’t sound weird until after I wrote it…amount of mountains…hmm…). So, it was pretty boring…as boring as riding ALL DAY in a van with 9 other people can be…which is still pretty lively. Everyone was really ready to get out of the van when we got there. Katie P, Thad, Aaron and I all traded our shoes around, and I took a picture. Yeah, we were that crazy from being in the van for 11 hours!! So, after the 4:00 news we all retreated to our rooms…and I went out into the hallway to record the news on the video camera. Katie P happened to come out just then and asked me if I wanted to braid her hair so I wouldn’t have to do it in the morning, since we would be short on time all day. (several of us have French braids for the show. Some of them (Katie’s and Faith’s) go under wigs, so they don’t have to look good, meaning she could sleep on it and it wouldn’t matter) So I went with her to Aaron and Thad’s room (they were going to watch a movie…after I left, but I hear they didn’t finish it before they decided to go to sleep!) and she dried her hair and I braided it and then went back to our room. The kids were watching some show on Discovery abut the Bermuda Triangle, then we went to bed at about 11:00. I really was not sleepy (of course!) and so I stayed up a little longer reading. I really didn’t even want to go to sleep at all. Getting 2 hours of sleep and then having to get up is harder for me than to just stay up and then go to sleep in the van at 4. But, I did end up getting a little sleep, and getting up really well…I think I could have done a show right then and there…I was so awake! Then we got in the van and drove FOREVER!! We drove though 9 states in 12 hours. (Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire & Maine!!) I’ll give you all the details on today tomorrow (hopefully earlier than 2:00 am!!). For now, I’ll say that the show went well, lot of funny stuff happened (I think mostly from 2 weeks off). All the acting was pretty well there, but some of the tech went a little crazy. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow! We have 2 nights here, so I hope to update you about today at some decent time. Oh, and of course we are on Eastern time now, so it’s later here. (Yeah, that’s right…it’s only 1:00 I my house!) So, I better go now…hope this is enough info about a day pretty well totally in the van!!

Crazytown!!

Well, due to an unexpected administrative error, we are leaving at 4:00 am tomorrow morning. Mr. Payne called us into his room and told us that he didn't know how it happened, but the show we thought was Thursday is actually tomorrow (Wednesday). So, we have to leave at 4 to get there about 4 pm (which is pretty late for a 7:00 show!). Today we just drove (FOREVER!!), and nothing really exciting happened. I'll update all about today tomorrow night...I think that's the best way to get on the "this is what happened yesterday" schedule. Until tomorrow... :)

Trip 2 here we come!

Well, today we had a pick-up rehearsal and got everything ready to leave tomorrow. Yep, 2 weeks later we all got together again and ran the show. Most of us were saying "I hope I remember all my lines!". Tomorrow we are going to Winchester, VA, to spend the night on the way to Rockland, Maine. Our first show on this trip is on Thursday in Rockland. We're going to have 2 days of lots of driving and then shows 6 days in a row. Should be fun. We actually will be back home on July 24. We got the schedule for the rest of tour today, so here it is: July 14 - Leave Nashville for Winchester, VA 15 - Winchester to Auburn, ME 16 - Show in Rockland, ME 17 - Show in Standish, ME 18 - Show in Old Orchard Beach, ME 19 - Show in Pittsfield, MA 20 - Show in Ocean City, NJ 21 - Show in Elverson, PA 22 - Elverson to Wytheville, VA 23 - Wytheville to Nashville 26 - Show in Jonesboro, AR 27 - Jonesboro to Nashville 30 - Leave Nashville for FL 31 - Show in Merritt Island, FL August 1 - Show in Tallahassee, FL 2 - Show in Brunswick, GA 3 - Brunswick to Nashville 6 - Show in Conway, AR 7 - Show in Springfield, MO 8 - Show in St. Louis, MO 9 - Show in Earlham, IA 10 - Travel toward Nashville (may arrive today) 11 - (maybe get home today) 14 - Show in Spartanburg, SC 15 - Show in Nashville, TN 16 - Show in Nashville, TN 22 - Cowan, TN 23 - Cowan, TN 29 - Show in Mt. Juliet, TN 30 - Show in Mt. Juliet, TN Notice that I took out the days when we are home. Did you see the big news?? WE GOT A NASHVILLE SHOW!!!! We are going to do 2 shows right here in Nashville, at the Free Will Baptist Bible College! Everybody mark your calenders for August 15 & 16 and MAKE SURE YOU COME to a show!! You will LOVE it!! I heard we are doing 2 shows on the 15th and one matinee on the 16th. You can also come to one of the Mt. Juliet shows, it that's closer for you. And if you know anyone that lives close to anywhere we are going, by all means, do invite them!! You can email me ( for_aslan@juno.com ) and I can tell you where exactly the show will be. Anyhow, I am going to try to be more consistent with this blog, as we are only gone a few days at a time for the rest of tour. When we leave tomorrow we will only be gone 10 days. I think I am going to write about the previous day and post it every night. So, tomorrow I aught to be writing about today. I'll say what day I'm talking about so you wont' be too confused. If you are, do tell me!! So, nothing really exciting happened today (other than shopping for trip stuff for about 6 hours...yeah, it was crazy). I better go now..big day tomorrow!

HOME!!!!

We're home!! Today we just drove up from Birmingham...about 3 hours. We had to drive right past our house to get to the college where most of us met family and we all went our separate ways. We all said "bye, see ya in a couple of weeks!" and we were off. It is kind of weird...being back home after being gone a whole month. Dad is building rooms in our basement (one of those "we're gonna do it this summer" for 10 years kind of things), so everything down there is all turned around. I feel like I should be sad that we're not all going to be in the van together tomorrow...and I am a little...but we **get** to do it all again in 2 weeks, so I'm trying not to miss everyone too much. Save it for August...or September...let's just say after the last show. THEN I'll be ****REALLY**** sad. But I am happy to be home. We're all NOT thinking about leaving again just after we all get good and settled in again. :) Anyhow, all's well here. I'm off to bed...**MY** bed!!...with brand new sheets!!!! YEEAAAHHHH!!!!!! Goodnight...from Nashville!!

Covington, LA to Birmingham, AL

Well, today was fantabulous. The shows went great this morning. We had to be there at 8:00 this morning for a 9:00 show...which meant we had to be out at the van at 7:30 with all our stuff. bleh. But, we lived. :) The hotel was really nice, so it was a shame we had so little time there. The one we're at tonight is really nice too, and we don't have to leave until 9:30 tomorrow. (!!!!) The second show this morning was so funny...people were spitting everywhere and Faith messed up one of her lines. Krystin (Lucy) was spitting everywhere when she jumped out of the wardrobe and said "I'm back! I'm back! It's alright, I've come back!". Aaron (Fenris Ulf, the wolf) was spitting everywhere when he came out before the fight with Peter. Faith said "the reindeer can't travel without sn...snla...hmph..without snow, they'll sink into the mud". Funny stuff. Anyhow, we went to Longhorn steakhouse tonight for dinner...kind of a celebratory dinner...which was really fun. My mom's parents came by on their way home (Talledega) from a family reunion, so we got to see them. (yay!) We're missing a daycamp at their church this year that we ALWAYS go to, which is really sad, but I wouldn't trade this trip for anything. Everyone is super excited about getting home tomorrow. Well, most of us are getting home...some just back to Nashville. Some are from East Tenn., Georgia & Florida, and they're driving back tomorrow & Tuesday, and later in the week. Anyhow, everyone is getting really excited. Well, I've got to go...gotta have that midnight shower again...just for the hair. 2 days of hairspray...blech. :)

Day 31, Gulfport, MS & Covington, LA

Hey everybody! Yes, I'm still here. Sorry about taking so long in between posts...life is crazy. We got here (Gulfport) at about 5:00 yesterday and loaded everything into the church and set up. There is a show today, but we only have to go, do mic checks and makeup, and do show!! After the show and tear-down we're driving to Covington (about 1 hour), and setting up for Sunday. We're doing the show at the church there as their morning service, so we have to cut the show down to 1 hour. We've talked about that some, but I still don't know all how it will work. I hope the director tells us today...yeah, that would be good. :) I hope I can remember when everything is different. Anyhow, I just wanted to let you all know we're still alive! We are going home in 2 days!! For a week...then we go away again...but let's not think about that right now. :) No really, I'm super excited. I'll get a whole lot of pictures on here...hopefully sometime soon!

Utah, Wyoming, and Nebraska

From Mom: Well, this blog is pitifully incomplete, but we have decided not to be slaves to it, but hope to go back and fill in blanks as we can. Pictures? We have thousands of them, but that is Allison's dept. and she likes to do whatever the gang is doing at night. Maybe I will learn how while we are at home, or even how to put albums on Facebook in time, but we have gazillions of pictures of flowers (if you know Allison) and also gazillions of blurry pics while riding in the van, trying to get that perfect view w/out a truck going by (lorry if you are Mr. Payne) or w/out the hill going up and obliterating the scene. This country is beautiful. BEAUTIFUL!! Just the ride on the interstate is such an adventure. There is no shortage of land, miles and miles and miles of it with no house to be seen, in every state we have been in. I feel like we should go back and narrate the states properly, so for now I will just fill you in on recent happenings. After doing shows in Kalispell and Missoula, Montana, we moved down to Salt Lake City, Utah. The city is settled between mountains, some snow-capped and some not, but certainly the place for winter skiing. Attendance has been low for this last round of shows, but we always give it our best and I think the folks there really enjoy it. The show is very tight, of course, by now, and the only new things are how to cope with new stages, where to enter and exit the curtain, which set pieces are being used this time, etc., and then there's the occasional "how did you end up over there?" and "sorry, I hit you too hard" or "sorry, my wand got caught in my costume", or "my horn got tangled in your costume"! Always funny and I'm sure the audience never knows it. This church fed us like royalty in a jungle room painted like a rain forest for the children complete with trees (God's Reign Forest). We were served breaded chicken, rice, veggies, salad, bread, and potato soup on glass plates (not the soup) and with glass goblets! Strawberry shortcake for dessert! It was such a shot in the arm! We have eaten at a Subway or Taco Bell in every state, practically. Much gratitude expressed! We didn't actually see the Great Salt Lake (did you know it has more salt than the ocean?), but saw a part of it (a bay?) from the interstate. The mountains surrounding the road out of town were breath-taking. Then we started out for 2 days of travel. We drove all across Wyoming. We saw more wildlife than ever before. We saw bison, cows and horses, and antelope were just randomly in the fields all along the way. We stopped at a rest stop and there was a whole village of prairie dogs who were obviously used to being watched and fed by humans, so they popped in and out of their holes and posed for our cameras, much to our delight. They make this funny little sound that is sort of like a loud cricket, and you can see their little belly go in and out. The sign there said that sagebrush is the plant that keeps the Wyoming wildlife alive, as it is very hardy and plentiful and the snow blows off of it in the winter. There were the strangest wooden fences propped up like picture frames placed all along the interstate in what looked like random formations, but I was told that they are there to keep the snow drifts off the interstate, which ends up being closed due to snow at times. Some of it looked sort of like desert and I couldn't imagine snow being piled up that much there. Today we drove across Nebraska, the cornhusker state. It is mostly farmland and more corn is grown there than anywhere else in the US. This was the first state where after we had driven a little while, you could sleep without missing anything new. The terrain, while lovely, didn't have much variety. We have finally come in to summer. Since Phoenix, it has been cool, breezy and sometimes cold. Today we opened the van door to 100 degrees and muggy! Nashville weather, here we come! Tonight we are in a Guest House Inn, where they have a pool indoors and the hotel is built around this recreation area. The kids had a nice swim. Mr. Payne says get your hotels through Hotwire for great prices. Tomorrow we head to Overland Park, Kansas for what may be our best attended show. If you are following the Jeff Roberts site for our dates, it's not very complete. It looks like we will be home a little longer than expected in July, to keep up from having a date in Maine and nothing else for 5 days. I don't know all the dates, but new locations are coming in. We will have 2 dates in Arkansas, one in Spartanburg, SC (mom and dad, send this blog to our family--I will get exact dates and time eventually), Brunswick GA, and Cocoa Beach and Tallahassee, FL (Mike and Carol?). Right now it sounds exhausting, but after a tank up at home, maybe we'll be ready. (Lexie, William, Scott and Daddy, we can't wait to see you!!) Alice, I was getting my phone out to return your call the next day (my vibrate went off in the sound booth--I thought it was funny) when I realized I didn't have it. Bummer! We miss you guys! Spring--I hope you are well again! We'll be home in less than a week. The countdown is on!! Love you.

Day 23 Missoula, Montana

Post from Mom: Well, I made a post last night and the internet cut off when I hit publish. I have to not care or I will go crazy. We left our phone in Kalispell, so unless I find someone with Verizon, I won't talk to you until I get home! I have so much to post, but we have so little time for the internet, and when we do, Allison and I both want it, or it doesn't work, is too slow, their are pictures to upload and go through to edit, or the kids want the computer for a movie! Argggh! I have to go, but just to say that Friday was Elizabeth's 13th birthday. We couldn't do anything special because we had to travel, then do our first time for 2 shows. Today we only travel, so may stop to eat somewhere she likes. Better go or I won't be ready to load the van. Hopefully we can try again tonight. Mom/Susan

Day 19: Seattle, WA

Alright, the original post is below, followed by a rewrite of the day with pictures... So we didn't go to the mountain today. :( It turned out that it would mean about 5 hours of van time for the round trip. So, we went down to the seaside market in the morning and then rode a ferry across to Bainbridge Island. The ferry was *really* cool. We had lunch on the island, which was Subway (for which we have all been labeled as *morons* by Mr. Payne. **MORONS**). He and mom went to a bakery right next door and I hear had a lovely lunch for a lovely price. After that we walked down to the dock and looked at all the ships and hung out for a while on a ramp that went down to the boats. Then we came back and went to dinner at a fish & chips place, which, according to Mr. Payne, was not the real deal, but not too bad. Then we came back to the hotel and a friend of mom's that she hadn't seen in forever came by and they left to go to Starbucks. We went swimming (in the really cold pool) with everyone else. We borrowed The Princess Bride and watched that, after I had a shower and got everything ready to go in the morning. So, pretty fun off day. We have *2* shows tomorrow in Spokane. We just found out today that there are 2 in one day tomorrow, one at 3 and the other at 7. First time doing 2 in 1 day, should be fun! I think we have 2 or 3 days of 2 shows a day this week. I'll get some pictures on here the next time I have a chance, but it is really late and we have an early call tomorrow. Off to bed now... [Here's the rewrite!] (2-16-10) This is what my 2/3 of the group did. The other 4 girls went shopping all day. Well, I'm sure they did something else, but that was the bulk of it. :) First, we went to the lovely seaside market. It was really interesting. There were lots of little shops and a big long open place with different vendors who had all sorts of things for sale. Here are some flowers and why I did NOT want to have lunch there: We walked around for a bit and took some pictures. ^Faith and Thad always did the craziest things; they were just sitting there, not moving, so I took a picture ^ Next we went over to Bainbridge Island on a way cool ferry. It was HUGE and inside there were some vending machines and a really cool coffee machine that would give you a cup of whatever coffee you wanted. It made it and poured it into a cup right there on the boat! I got one on the way back, just 'cause it was that cool. :) ^ the ferry ^ ^ view from the ferry ^ ^ those of us who went on the ferry ^ (Mom took the picture) ^ Aaron and Thad being pirates and Faith being a parrot ^ ^Katie and Thad being goofy ^ We do that well. ^ Pretty self-explanitory ^ The first thing we did on the Island (besides figuring out where to go) was get some lunch, as it was time. All of us except Mom and Mr. Payne went to Subway (since become one of my very favorite places ever, after taking time off and getting over having sandwiches um, often, on tour). Mom and Mr. Payne went to the Blackbird Bakery, which sounded lovely. After lunch we wandered around the Island. It was really cool. I took a million pictures of the flowers...they were *gorgeous*. We went and looked at the boats, including one we labeled as Aaron's, since his nickname is Puppy. We hung out for a while on the "dock" and Faith went down and picked up shells and such. ^Aaron's boat^ ^Faith chasing the geese^ On the way back to take the homeward ferry we stopped at an *amazing* little candy store. Well, all of us except Mrs. Coffee. She went to the coffee shop right next door. Anyhow, there were all kinds of candy (complete with chocolate and fudge, my all-time faves). I felt like a little kid in a candy shop. Oh, wait... ^ Mrs. Coffee in her element ^ After the candy shop some of us stopped by the restroom, Mr. Payne style. I also found time to sneak by the most yarn-filled place I've ever been. It was like heaven crammed into the quaintest little shop ever! I could have spent a year in there. On reaching the mainland we started out for an English fish and chips place Mr. Payne said he had been to before. We went around for a while and couldn't find it, so we ate at a more American fish and chips place. Mr. Payne said it wasn't quite the real thing, at least the "chips" (French fries), but not too bad. :) So, it was a wonderful, beautiful day. Also, we didn't end up having 2 shows in Spokane. We got there really late and would have about 45 minutes to load in, set up and get ready, which is INSANE, so they called it off and we just did the evening show. I may have written that somewhere else, but I can't remember right now and it would be better for it to be on here twice than not at all!!